What Brothers Do
by WeirdyMcWeirderton
Summary: Being the older brother, Fili instinctively protects Kili. It is just what he does for his younger brother and the rest of the company remember when they first saw this happen.
1. Prologue

**AN: Just a little something I got to thinking about while not being able to fall asleep. Hope everyone enjoys!**

 **AN: Most of these little drabbles are when Fili and Kili are young, under the age of 10 by our ages, but Dwalin and Balin's are when they are young teens.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of The Hobbit.**

The company goes about their business; at least, they make it seem they're going about their business. In fact, they are watching Fili and Kili who are on the other side of the camp. Both heir had almost drowned in the raging river trying to save one of the ponies that took fright. It was Kili who went after the pony first. Fili had followed closely behind trying to save his brother.

Now, Kili was sitting on a rock and Fili was attempting to check him over. Much to Kili's chagrin. The whole ordeal was something to experience. Not because they almost lost the boys but because they were able to see Fili, the next in line to the throne, show outright his protective streak. Specifically, over his brother.

It wasn't as if Fili being protective of Kili was out of the ordinary. It was just usually shown through the little acts. Such as, pulling Kili away from a ledge, casually looking over a cut, his eyes searching for Kili the moment one of them walks into the room, always knowing where Kili is, or silently handing over dry clothes when Kili's become soaked. No, those happen all the time. It's the bigger ones that happen and anyone who witnesses it feel privileged to have done so. And it's this time, seeing it again, that the company thinks back to the first time they witnessed it.

 **AN: Each chapter will be another member of the company. Please review.**


	2. Dori

Dwarves were smaller than humans; that much was a given. Unfortunately, Kili was small even for a dwarf. Thorin, Dis, Fili, and anyone else who would later make up the company, would assure the young heir he would grow. Kili never believed them and the fact that the children of the men would pick on his height didn't help. It was one such time that Dori witnessed how strongly protective Fili was of Kili.

"Look at him. He's not tall enough to ride a goat let alone a pony." Dori turned in the direction of the taunts. A few yards away a group of children were surrounding Kili, laughing at his height. Dori had to hand it to the young lad; Kili's look was scarier than expected.

Suddenly, one of the boys said something Dori couldn't make out before he shoved Kili to the ground. Dori's eyes widen and just as he's about to rush in there is a blur running passed him. Dori looks from the spot next to him and then back over at Kili. Dori's eyes widen further when Fili shoves a couple of the children out of the way before turning to the child who shoved Kili and hitting him in the face.

Too stunned at the sudden aggressiveness of the heir, Dori stands and watches as Fili fights with the four boys. After winning the fight, Fili glares down at them to nod their heads and hastily run off. Fili helps Kili up to his feet and pulls him towards their home.

When Dori sees the lads later that day, Fili is sporting a few bruises with one on his face. Kili is looking at his older brother with a big grin on his face, admiration wafting off him. Meanwhile, Thorin and Dis look as if they had aged ten years.


	3. Nori

"Give it back!" Nori turns his head in the direction the shout came from. He was on his way to Dori's home. He had been away for some time and knew he had to visit his older and younger brother.

"I didn't take it!" Nori's brows furrows at the familiar voice. He can't pinpoint the voice for it sounds different at the same time. Turning his pony, the Dwarf urges it towards the raised, arguing voices.

"Yes you did!"

"I don't _need_ to take your knife!"

Nori merges into the clearing and sees four Dwarflings angrily staring at each other. Two of them Nori realizes are young Kili and Fili. The other two look to be similar in age to the young heirs.

"The heirs of Durin shouldn't lie," the older of the other two Dwarflings says.

"My brother doesn't lie. You probably just lost it," Fili snaps in return.

"I didn't lose it. Give it back," the younger Dwarfling answers as his older brother grabs Kili and roughly begins searching. Nori dismounts his horse, intent on putting a stop to this when Fili immediately barrels in to the older Dwarfling. The older brothers begin to roll around on the ground, throwing punches at the each other. Kili swiftly lunges at the other Dwarfling and the two of them begin tousling as well.

Nori rushes forward, swiftly separating the two younger brothers and holding them apart. Nori sets Kili by his horse, giving him a stern look before whistling sharply. Fili and the other Dwarfling instantly stop and look over at Nori.

"You two. Leave. Now," Nori orders the unknown Dwarflings. They quickly scurry off and Nori looks over at Fili and Kili. "You two should wash up before going home."

Fili and Kili nod their heads in understanding. Fili grabs Kili and urgently leads him away. Nori sighs to his self. He always knew Fili was protective of Kili, but now he knows the extent of it.


	4. Ori

"I don't know _what_ you were thinking?!" Thorin shouts, his gaze on Kili. Ori bows his head, ashamed and not even the one being scolded. Kili had the bright idea to go down to the lake. Fili had ran after Kili and Ori, knowing they weren't allowed there by themselves. Thorin had caught them, coming to the conclusion that it was Kili's idea.

Fili looks sympathetically at Kili who looks like he's about to cry. Kili deserved to be scolded; the lake was dangerous. Kili could've seriously gotten hurt. Along with Ori. Another look at Kili's face had Fili swallowing hard though. He hated seeing that look on his baby brother's face. So, he did the first thing that came to his mind.

"It was my idea," Fili announces from his spot on the sidelines. Thorin's rant stops abruptly and he looks over at his eldest nephew in confusion. He thought for sure this was just another one of Kili's naive ideas. "I thought I was old enough and could handle it. Kili and Ori wanted to come with me and I let them."

"Fili. You know better than that. You could've gotten seriously injured. Or your brother; or Ori," Thorin scolded with a scowl and his face hard. "It was reckless. I would've thought you would've been smarter in your decision. I'm disappointed in you."

Fili hung his head and Thorin sent him to his room. Kili looked after his older brother with wide eyes. He couldn't understand why Fili would take the fall for him. His thoughts focused solely on his brother, he barely heard Thorin apologize before walking outside.

"Why did Fili do that?" Ori asked Kili, his own confusion evident.

"I don't know," Kili replied before going into his and Fili's room. Ori know Fili must care about Kili a lot to take the brunt of Thorin's wrath. He only hoped his own brothers would protect him the same way.


	5. Bombur

"Come on Kili! Let's eat lunch over here!" Fili calls out to his younger brother. Bombur looks up from the path he's walking on. He sees the two young heirs run towards a nearby clump of trees. The large Dwarf is also in time to see young Kili trip and fall on the ground. The Dwarfling's lunch flies into the air, landing on the dirt covered ground. The food scatters and Kili slowly pushes himself up. Fili has stopped abruptly and is rushing to Kili's side. The young, dark-haired heir sniffles and Fili wraps an arm around him.

"It's okay Kee. You can have my lunch," Fili says as he leads Kili over to a tree.

"But what about you?" Kili asks with wide eyes.

"I wasn't really hungry. I'll eat later," Fili says before handing his lunch over. Kili takes it but looks at Fili skeptically. Fili nudges him. "Eat."

Kili gives Fili one last look before finally eating. And if, as Bombur walks by, he hears the low sound of Fili's stomach growling, he doesn't say anything. However, he makes sure there is a little something waiting for Fili to eat when he returns home.


	6. Bofur

"Kili!" Bofur's head whips around and his eyes scan the field to his left. Not seeing anything, Bofur wanders into the field keeping his eyes peeled.

"Kili! It's all right," Bofur hears and he walks over in the direction of the voice. Rounding a tree, Bofur sees young Fili and Kili sitting on the ground. Kili is crying and holding his ankle and Fili is trying to console him with an arm around Kili's shoulders.

"Is everything all right laddie's?" Bofur asks causing Fili to jump slightly. Fili looks over at Bofur with concern in his eyes.

"Kili hurt his ankle. I have to get him to mother," Fili explains before standing up. Bofur watches as Fili helps Kili stand up. With a whimper, Kili quickly takes weight off his injured ankle.

"Here, I'll carry him," Bofur says as he steps towards Kili. He stops abruptly when Fili's head turns towards him with a glare aimed purposely at him.

"I got him. He's my brother," Fili snaps before telling Kili to get on his back. The elder brother squats down enough for the younger to climb onto his back. Bofur raises an eyebrow as Fili begins walking passed him.

However, this wasn't what impressed Bofur the most. I t was the fact that Fili carried his brother the whole way to their home, which was over a mile away. Fili never once complained or stumbled, but did make sure to keep up a constant litany of assurances.


	7. Bifur

Bifur looked over at the two young heirs playing on the floor with their toys. They had gotten a wooden war goat each from their uncle. Bifur glances out the window for any sign from said uncle. Dis was out of town for the day which meant Thorin was in charge of his nephews. However, there was an emergency at the forge so Bifur, being the only one available, was coerced into watching the boys for a couple hours.

Suddenly, there was a loud crack and a wail of despair causing Bifur's attention to jerk towards the boys. Kili was sitting on the floor crying as Fili picked up the broken goat. Fili gave Kili a sympathetic look and wrapped his arms around him, attempting to console his younger brother.

It took a short while, but Bifur was finally able to get the story out of Fili. Apparently, Kili was trying to make his goat jump from the table to a chair across the room. In his young mind, throwing the toy was the best way it seemed. Bifur sighs, not really knowing what to do. It seemed, though, he didn't have to because Fili took control.

"Here Kee, you can have my goat," Fili says as he hands his own toy to his rother. Kili takes it and after a minute stops crying. Kili gave Fili a large grin and jumped on his brother, giving him a tight hug. Bifur smiled, knowing as small as the offer was, how much it meant for Fili to give up his toy.


	8. Gloin

Gloin followed after an angry Thorin. They had just returned from town where they learned Kili had gotten into a fight with a couple of the boys there. Thorin was furious; he did not raise his nephews as his heirs for them to start fights. Thorin barged through his front door and Gloin was on his heels. Normally he wouldn't have followed the angry king but his son, Gimli, was with Fili and Kili.

"Kili! Come here!" Thorin shouted as his eyes searched the room. Moments later Kili slumped out of his room with Fili and Gimli close behind. Kili had a black eye and a cut on his cheek. Fili was holding a wet cloth which he had no doubt been using to clean the cut with. Thorin sighed and staked away before turning to look directly at Kili whose head was hung low. "What were you thinking?! You are an heir of Durin. This is not how a prince behaves!"

Gloin see Kili's shoulders slouch further. Eyes shifting to Gimli, Gloin sees him looking between Thorin, Kili, and Fili hesitantly. Speaking of Fili, Gloins eyes narrow at the elder of the heirs. Fili's body is tensed and his eyes are hard, focusing on his uncle.

"Do you realize what I had to do to fix your mess?" Thorin growls out with a shake of his head. If Gloin was surprised at Thorin's reaction, he was even more surprised at what happened next.

"It wasn't Kili's fault. The other boys were picking on Gimli. Kili was just sticking up for him. They attacked first," Fili growls out heatedly, rivaling Thorin's tone. "If you had given him a chance to explain you would've known that."

Thorin and Gloin stare at Fili in surprise. Never had Gloin seen another Dwarf stand up to Thorin the way Fili had. Especially not one as young as Fili. It's Thorin's voice that interrupts the silence first.

"Kili, is that true?" Thorin asks his youngest nephew, his eyes stopping on him. Kili barely meets his gaze but nods his head silently. Gloin finds a smile tugging at his lips. If anything told how protective Fili was of Kili, this was it.


	9. Oin

"Ow!" Oin purses his lips at Kili's exclamation. Oin had been called upon by Dis when her youngest son had cut himself with a knife. So, here he was cleaning otu the wound and preparing to stitch it up. Thorin and Dis were standing nearby while Fili was sitting right next to Kili. Speaking of the older brother… Oin glances over at Fili when the young lad all but growls at him when Kili hisses in pain.

"I must clean the wound Fili so it doesn't become infected," Oin explained but the only response is a glare aimed in his direction. Oin sighed and turned his attention back to the younger brother. He finished cleaning the wound and pulled out a needle and thread. Kili's eyes go wide and he grabbed Fili's sleeve in a death grip.

"Fili…?" Kili asked and Fili rested a calming hand on his shoulder while simultaneously glowering at Oin.

"You didn't have to let him see it," Fili growled and snapped out. Thorin rested a hand on Fili's shoulder and sighed.

"Kili will be fine Fili," he said and rested his other hand on Kili's shoulder. Thorin looked at Oin and gave him a nod. Oin gave Fili's glare a tentative glance before continuing.

Twenty minutes later and Oin secured his last stitch. He breathed out a sigh of relief. The emotions filling the room were stressing him out. Dis hung back with tears in her eyes for her youngest son's pain. Thorin stayed by Kili and Fili's sides, his hands still on their shoulders. Oin didn't know how Thorin did it, but one hand was used in a calming manner while the other for restraint. Kili continued to grip Fili's sleeve as he whimpered and tears flowed down his face. Fili… well, Fili spent the whole of the twenty minutes glaring at Oin with cold, unwavering eyes. Oin was sure he ws planning all the ways to kill him.

Oin had never been wary of a Dwarfling before, and probably never will again, but he was definitely wary of Fili in that moment. The healer was under no assumptions that if he hurt Kili, he would have to answer to Fili. And in that moment, Oin was more scared of Fili than he was of Thorin. In fact, Oin was more scared of Fili than Smaug himself.


	10. Dwalin

"Looks like someone's trying to be more like an Elf than a Dwarf," a voice says with myrrh. Dwalin furrows his brow at the comment hearing angry voices following it. When Dwalin walks onto the training field, he sees Kili squaring off to two other Dwarves his age. They were harassing the young heir about using the boy and arrow and Dwalin could see the scowl deepening on Kili's face. Deciding to step in before the taunting escalated, Dwalin stormed over to the group.

"The last I checked even the King Under the Mountain uses a bow and arrow," Dwalin growls out, startling the young Dwarves. "You two… Leave."

The two taunters scurry off and Dwalin looks over at Kili. The lad's face was taught and a scowl still present. Looking into Kili's eyes though showed how much the taunting hurt. Kili looks up at him and glares at the large Dwarf.

"I had it under control," Kili snaps before stomping off. Dwalin sighed and shook his head before walking off the field.

Hearing a thump, Dwalin found his brow furrowing for a second time in fifteen minutes. He heard another thump and Dwalin's head turned towards the direction it cae from. Noticing a nearby building, Dwalin began walking towards it. Almost there, Dwalin stopped when the two young Dwarves from earlier ran out from behind it. Dwalin watched them run away as they held their eye and nose respectively. Narrowing his eyes, Dwalin turned his attention back to the building. Fili emerged with a scowl on his face and flexing his hand. With a cock of his head, Dwalin walked towards Kili's older brother. Eyes darting to Fili's hands, Dwalin noticed the bruise already forming on the knuckles. Fili looked up and gave Dwalin a look the warrior couldn't place before sauntering to the practice field. With a smirk playing on his lips, Dwalin shook his head. He knew Fili would pay for his action later when Thorin found out. However, he was sure Fili would do it all over again.


	11. Balin

Balin led his pony to the river and allowed it to drink. There's a sniffle from nearby and the older dwarf looked to his left. By a tree sat Fili and Kili. Kili was trying not to cry with his head hung low while Fili sat next to him with an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"It's all right Kee," Fili assured lowly but Kili shook his head adamately.

"Uncle will be furious. He'll never get me a new one," Kili said as he sniffled again.

"Thorin will understand…" Fili began but was interrupted by his younger brother.

"No he won't. I left it and now my bow is gone. He'll say I was irresponsible and that I don't deserve another one," Kili said as a tear escaped and tracked down his cheek.

"You let me handle Thorin. Come on Kee," Fili replied and helped his brother up to his feet. Balin watched from his spot behind some bushes as the two brothers walked back to their home. Balin sighed. Kili had a point; Thorin would definitely say those things. He just wondered what Fili would do to fix this.

On his way back to his home, Balin passed Fili walking back to the river. He smiled and waved but Fili seemed to be in his own world and didn't see him. Balin did hear the young lad muttering a plan to find the bow and he smiled softly.

It was after supper when Balin looked out his window where he was doing his dishes. His eyes widen when he sees Fili walking back towards his house. A smile crept onto Balin's face when, upon a closer look, the young heir had Kili's bow slung over his shoulder.


	12. Thorin

**AN: Last chapter! Hope everyone liked this! The normal print is the same time as the prologue and the italics is the memory.**

Thorin smirked at the stories being told around the campfire. His nephews had fallen asleep shortly after supper, the whole river incident taking a toll on them. The company, then, took it upon themselves to tell stories of the first time they had seen Fili's protectiveness over Kili become so bold. He looked to Gandalf and shared an amused smile.

"How about you Thorin?" Bilbo asks and the rest of the company look to Thorin in curiosity. Thorin stares into the fire as his smile grows slightly before he begins to tell his story.

 _Thorin watched in amusement as Fili played with his baby brother. Fili kept hiding behind his hands and then pulling them away and shouting 'boo' causing Kili to squeal in delight. Eventually, Fili stopped but Kili was having none of it. The youngest brother grabbed Fili's hands and covered his older brother's face with them. Then, Kili pulled them away and shouted 'boo' causing himself to giggle and squeal. Thorin and Dis chuckled at the younger boy's antics._

 _"Oh, Kili, you're so cute I could just eat you up," Dis said with love. Thorin smirked when Fili's eyes grew wide and he stared at his mother. Dis wiped her hands on the cloth and walked over to Kili, intent on getting him ready for bed._

 _"No!" Fili shouted and grabbed a nearby book. He stepped in front of Kili and held the book like a weapon._

 _"Fili what in the name of During are you doing?" Dis exclaimed in surprise._

 _"You can't eat him! He's my brother! I won't let you!" Fili shouted with a determined look. Thorin stifled a chuckle but a smirk made itself known._

 _"Fili don't be ridiculous," Dis huffed out and stepped towards her youngest son once again._

 _"Dis…" Thorin warned but it went unheard._

 _"No!" Fili shouted and began swinging the book at his mother._

 _"Fili!" Dis shouted but stopped her forward momentum._

 _"Dis," Thorin said again and this time Dis heard him. Thorin put a placating hand on her shoulder before kneeling down in front of Fili, their gazes meeting._

 _It took some time for Thorin to convince Fili that Dis most definitely was_ not _going to eat Kili. That it was just an expression. Even still, Fili insisted on Kili sleeping with him for the next week. It was this moment that Thorin realized how far Fili would go to protect his brother._

 **AN: Thanks to everyone who has read, followed, favorited, and reviewed! I love hearing from you guys!**


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